London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

A policeman jailed for theft has been formally dismissed from the force.

Pc Ian Scouler, 46, was found guilty
of theft at London's Southwark Crown Court on November 7 and sentenced to 12
months imprisonment.

He was formally dismissed yesterday,
the Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement.

Separately, Pc Kenneth Potter, 30,
pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to one count of theft and one count of
handling stolen goods.

He received a five-month sentence
for both counts, to run concurrently.

Potter put in a formal request to
resign in June, which was accepted.

The pair were based in the
disruption unit at Plumstead police station, in south London.

In 2010 and 2011, police received
several complaints from the public regarding theft of money and property in
cases handled by the unit, where addresses were searched or members of the
public were stopped and searched on the street.

The Directorate of Professional
Standards (DPS) anti-corruption team launched an investigation, which was
managed by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Officers from the DPS carried out a
covert operation and gathered evidence against the two officers.

They were both arrested on October
12 last year and suspended from duty.

They were subsequently charged on
January 26 this year.

Commander Allan Gibson, of the DPS,
said: "Where we have intelligence that officers may be breaking the law,
we will be proactive and run covert operations to identify corruption.

"Both these men are now out of
the police service and sitting in prison, having been found guilty of theft.
The prosecution case was based on evidence gathered by the Directorate of
Professional Standards.

"There is no place for
criminals in the Met and the Directorate of Professional Standards will put
anyone who thinks they are above the law before the courts."